One Yard From Hell Missions

Some want to live within the sound
Of church or chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue shop,
Within a yard of hell.

C.T. Studd

Doing Something Worthwhile?

In our personal lives, waiting in not a very popular pastime. Waiting is not something we anticipate or experience with great joy and gladness! In fact, most of us consider waiting a waste of time. Perhaps this is because the culture in which we live is basically saying, "Get going! Do something! Show you are able to make a difference! Don't just sit there and wait!" So, for us and many people, waiting is a dry desert between were we are and where we want to be. We do not enjoy such a place. We want to move out of it and so something worthwhile.

-- Henri Nouwen

Around Life Pains We Go.....

"Long before this winter snow
I ran from pain, looking high and low
For some fast way to get around
Its hurt and cold. I'd have found,
If I had looked at what was there,
That things don't follow fast or fair.
That life goes on, and times do change, And grass does grow despite life's pains."

~ Mary and Bernard. Selection taken from. "Resurrection"

Say Not Many Prayers

"To walk in the presence of the Lord means to move forward in life in such a way that all our desires, thoughts, and actions are constantly guided by him. When we walk in the Lord's presence, everything we see, here, touch, or taste reminds us of him. This is what is meant by a prayerful life. It is not a life in which we say many prayers, but a life in which nothing, absolutely nothing, is done, said, or understand independently of him who is the origin and purpose of our existence."
(Henri Nouwen. The Living Reminder)

A Chitty Chat About God

"Today, many persons who seek or study God do just that. They study him in books, make him an object of speculation, approach him from intellectual curiosity. With what result? The more we study, the more our ideas become confused; the more we get caught up in discussions, the further we go from him...
Study is no longer the light of spirituality, and curiosity has taken the place of humility."
(Carlo Careetto. The God Who Comes)

A Physical Pilgrim

“This must be a very spiritual experience for you.” My response came so fast, it surprised even me. “No,” I said, “it’s a very physical experience.” She looked disappointed, but what could I say? It wasn’t my spirit that was doing the walking, it was my feet. And my feet hurt.
Not to say that the Camino was all pain, but it was all, or mostly, sensation. Heat, weariness, pain, thirst—not to extremes, but well beyond what my body was used to. And then relief. The rest in the shade, the cold drink, the breeze that sprang up from nowhere, the sting in the mouth of sheep cheese, the gasp as I plunged my face into a cold fountain. If there had been anything spiritual about my Camino to that point, it had come through the senses: the cessation of discomfort, and with it the unfocused reflex of gratefulness, that impulse to give thanks even when it was not clear to whom. Maybe that’s where spirituality begins."

~Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims

Pilgrimage of Malnourished Spirits

"The afflictions pilgrims bring with them to the Camino today are mostly of the spirit: doubt, alienation, boredom, stress, estrangement from family, disenchantment with work, lack of faith, and that all-pervading sense of something missing. In contrast to their ailing spirits, their bodies are usually well nourished and fit. This is a far cry from the old days, when the Camino was a walking infirmary, an endless procession of pilgrims seeking cures at the shrines of healing saints."

~ Robert Ward. All Good Pilgrims.

Leaky Love Tank

"Every close relationship has gone down the crapper at some point. I’ve known for a long time that I have a serious crack in my “love-tank”. Whatever goes in, leaks out – eventually. And I have become so accustomed to searching for love that I’m not sure I know how to live WITH love."

Drew Marshall, Camino Confessions.

When Your Feet Betray You

"I had always seen myself as a walker, so I was not prepared for pain. If I had expected the Camino to be a test in any way, it was emotionally: would I be able to stick with it? As things turned out, that was the least of my problems. From my first step, my commitment to finishing was never in doubt. Instead, it was my body that threatened to “betray” me."

(Robert Ward. All Good Pilgrims)

No Predicting Who Has Problems

"Francisco told us the other night in Tosantos that by this point of the Camino we were past our initial aches and pains. Looking around here, I see little to support that view. Nowhere have I observed so many pilgrims looking quite so medieval, hobbling about on chafed and bleeding feet, their blisters pierced and threaded, their knees and ankles trussed. Walking is a mystery. There’s no predicting who will have problems. We have all met, on the one hand, that perky seventy-year-old who covers thirty kilometres a day with ease and, on the other, that strapping young athlete whose feet were a disaster from day one. Some pilgrims, when they run into troubles, rest or adjust. Others drive themselves, determined to overcome the pain, or convinced that pain is an integral part of pilgrimage, or trying to keep up with their walking companions or their itinerary."

(Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims)

Moving Past The Physical to The Spiritual Pilgrimage

"...Francisco speaks. He has much to say and often the Spanish eludes me, but the kernel is this: “On the first part of the Camino, the landscape is always changing. There are forests, mountains, rivers. There are beautiful towns and bridges. There is always something to catch your eye and take you out of yourself. The novelty of the experience distracts you, as do all the new people you are meeting, the human relations you are forging. Pain distracts you too. The pain of your feet, your legs, your shoulders. At the end of every day your body is tired from this unaccustomed effort. Your mind is tired too, from trying to process so many new things. With all these distractions and weariness, it is hard to focus on the things of the spirit. “But now, most of you have been walking for a couple of weeks. Your body has made adjustments. It no longer requires all your attention. Your mind too has passed through the initial stages of wonder and commotion and settled into the rhythm of the pilgrimage. This means it is free to think other thoughts. “In a few days you will come to the meseta, a broad, flat land that stretches to the distance in every direction. A place where there are no longer visual distractions, where there is nothing to look at but the sky above and the far horizon. There, you will begin to look into yourself. That is where the first part of the Camino—the physical part—ends, and where the spiritual Camino begins.”

~Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims

Don't Read About It - Live It

"...after supper, he saw me looking at a book about the Camino. He got really indignant. ‘Don’t read about the Camino,’ he said. ‘Live it!’ ”

~ Robert Ward. All The Good Pilgrims